Walking in the Light

A few days ago, Moses, our big black lab, and I went for a very early morning walk around 5:00 a.m. It had been overcast and rainy, and the predawn darkness seemed darker than usual. In fact, it seemed pitch black dark and, for some reason, most of the street lamps were out--it was truly a penetrating, lonely blackness. As we walked along, I could barely see the road in front of us. Finally, up ahead I saw a street lamp shining, and in the oppressive darkness surrounding us, that pool of light shined like a beacon of warmth and hope. The darkness made it so much more bright and inviting.

As we walked out of the darkness and into the radius of the light, enjoying it's glow of security, I couldn't help but think of Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to Your Father who is in heaven." Lord, I asked, am I that kind of light to my family, to my friends and neighbors, to those with whom I come into contact?

We live in an increasingly dark, dark world. There is so much sorrow, so much uncertainty, so much sin, so much fear and deception. O, but in that darkness, the light glimmers and glitters ever more brilliantly. Jesus is the Light of the World. If we belong to Him, how on earth can we not reflect His Light? He has called us to His light, and if we cling to Him, we cannot help but reflect His light. We cling to Him by daily spending time in His Word and throughout our day talking to and asking Him--our dearest companion--to guide us, enable us, strengthen us, forgive us, shape us. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so we will reflect the Son if we have been in His presence.

It's funny, though, as Moses and I walked along in the predawn darkness, occasionally we would see one of those welcoming pools of light up ahead, but as we reached the street lamp, the light would go out. This happened to us several times that morning. As I looked up at the street lamp itself, I could see the faintest glow was still in the bulb, but the lamp was no longer throwing out any light. Lord, I had to ask, is that me? You, the Light of the World, reside in me, but has my light dimmed so that others no longer see You in me? It breaks my heart to think that others might look at me or my actions or my attitudes and rather than see Your Light and thereby be encouraged and drawn to You, they might see only more darkness, more of the world's emptiness.

What causes our light to dim? In a word, sin. Our selfishness, our pride, our love of things or accomplishments or comfort or pleasure more than our love for the One who died for our sins. Busyness can dim the light because we get too busy to spend time with the Savior or too busy to show the love of Christ to those around us or too busy to think of anybody or anything other than ourselves and our agenda. If sin or busyness darkens our light, how dark is the darkness! And how many lost and lonely souls have missed the warmth and love and direction and purpose that our light could have and should have given them. Forgive me Lord!

But over 2000 years ago on a windswept hill outside the city limits, out in the darkness and despair of a world without light or hope, those sins were crucified and washed by the blood of the Savior. And as the world grew ever darker that terrible friday, even then, the Light was preparing to burst forth on Resurrection Sunday. So while our light may dim, with the Lord Jesus, there is always forgiveness and grace and new life. God is not through with us yet! Our light may have dimmed temporarily, but with Christ, it can pour forth light again. We can still shine His light in the world, in our homes, in our cities.

"For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Eph. 5:8 It's time to start walking in the light! Sure, we can't do it in our own strength, but through Him, "all things are possible." Phi. 4:13 It's time to start walking in the light in our marriages, with our children, with those we meet everyday. And, might I add, it's time to start driving in the light as well! I've been so convicted that it's in the littlest things where our light can really shine brightest--letting drivers cut in front of us, returning our shopping cart, smiling and speaking to the Target checkout clerk, responding with gentleness and grace to a harsh or unkind word. If we aren't light in all these "little" places throughout our day, well, then we've forfeited the opportunity to shine God's Light and love in a dark world.

If we know Jesus as Savior, then we are children of the Light. So, let's start living like it! Start walking and driving and shopping and carpooling and cleaning and folding laundry and talking on the phone as children of the light. For that is what we are, and when we live that way, we will feel God's pleasure. So to the Light of the World--and the Light of our world--be the glory forever!

Come Hungry!

Have you ever worked really hard preparing a meal for your family and then nobody came? I know mothers of small children cannot identify with this, but those of us with teenagers certainly can. Now don't get me wrong--I am a mediocre chef, at best. Truth be told, I like to cook for two reasons: I want to love my family by cooking them a healthy, tasty dinner that we can enjoy together while having meaningful conversation. Okay, so that never happens--but a girl can dream, can't she? Secondly, I cook because I LOVE to eat! If only my culinary skills matched my prodigious appetite--they'd be asking me to do a pilot on the Food Network. As it is, they might want me on a show aimed at discouraged, mediocre cooks who aspire to be more like Martha Stewart... only without the jail term... or the unappealing perfectionist streak.

I digress. Hope springs eternal, so even with my many strike outs in the family cooking department, I keep trying. It can get pretty frustrating, since inevitably, whatever I cook, someone will not like it. One child, inexplicably doesn't like pasta (truly unbelievable), another won't eat red meat, another doesn't like casseroles or food mixed up with any other food and on and on. But I keep soldiering on, certain that one of these days, I will become such a fabulous cook that they will like whatever I make. HA!

In the meantime (i.e. till I get to heaven), I keep cutting out recipes and working hard to cook a meal everyone will devour. A meal that does not include cereal or mac and cheese or chicken nuggets. And I can't tell you how many times I have labored with extraordinary effort and diligence only to discover at supper time that no one could eat together that night. One child might have a late cross country practice and then a study group; another child planned to go out to dinner with his young life leader (hard to argue with that), another one simply isn't hungry since he ate his friend's leftovers at the golf course. My husband and I look at each other, and he usually gives me the lecture about checking with everyone first before I go to all the trouble and expense of cooking a home cooked meal. As Steve Martin would say, "Well, EXCUSE me!"

If you are a mother of a teenager, then you fully understand me when I say that watching all my loving, hard work go utterly to waste, DRIVES ME CRAZY! There is just something so sad and disappointing about preparing a feast for your loved ones for which they don't show up.

And then it hit me: how often do I do that with my Lord? How often does He have a feast specifically prepared for me in His Word and I am just too busy or too preoccupied with other things to bother showing up for His loving meal? "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" There are countless references throughout the Scriptures to eating God's Word, to tasting His goodness, to finding satisfaction in Him. Even in heaven, one of the greatest highlights will be the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (and I for one, am pretty fired up about that--I'm thinking the food in heaven will truly be "out of this world!").

God longs for us to come and feast with Him in His Word. He has tasty morsels intended just for us each day--yet how often do we skip a meal, or ruin our appetite by snacking on what the world has to offer? The Lord Jesus knows exactly what we need. He understands our appetites and our weaknesses. He knows just what food will satisfy us, nourish us, fill us up to overflowing with precisely what our needs will be that day. And while we eat His Word, He longs to just enjoy fellowship with us--to listen to us, to talk to us, to encourage us, to strengthen us.

But how often we forfeit this feast prepared by the Master Chef! We rush out the door, because we have so much to do and accomplish--like our busy children with too many activities to have time to eat supper with us--and we miss the spiritual nourishment that will strengthen us and enable us to do all that we have to accomplish. Boy, I would no more skip physical food than fly to the moon. I've never understood those people who say they simply "forgot" to eat. Never, ever, ever happened with this girl! But, I've skipped more than my share of the spiritual meals and those are exceedingly more important, more life-giving, more sustaining than any sandwich or chicken pot pie or chocolate cake. Forgive me Lord!

So what is causing you to skip a meal with the Savior? Is it busyness or preoccupation or maybe a a

loss of appetite. When my son comes in from golf and pours himself a Jethro sized bowl of cereal

right before dinner, he doesn't have much of an appetite for anything I might have cooked. Barbecue

chicken and mashed potatoes and green beans will provide him with far more nutrients and protein

and long term satiation, but when he's hungry, those quick, easy, brightly colored fruit loops look

pretty tempting! We so often look for the quick fix, the easy answer to our worries that a shopping

trip or a drink or a phone call to gossip or a mindless TV program or a computer program might seem more alluring than

time alone in God's Word. But one truly satisfies and strengthens; the other merely camouflages and

covers over for a brief instant.

The choice is ours--God is calling us to come hungry and to be fully, joyfully, abundantly satisfied

in Him and in His Word. Or we can choose to get busy with other things and skip another meal with Him and suffer leanness in our

soul. He's waiting with His feast prepared just for you and for me. Will we go? And to God, the Founder

of the feast, be all the glory.

Now to Him who is able

My husband and I are helping lead a discussion on family life/parenting today in sunday school. Funny how the Lord works--just last night, I fell into bed and felt so discouraged with myself as a mother. So often, all I can see are my myriad shortcomings and failings in this area of my life. How I wish I were more fun, more organized, more consistent, more patient, more proactive, more loving--not to mention wiser, kinder... the list goes on and on. In the providence of God, my dear husband came in to the room to chat and pray, and the burden of my inadquacies began to lift.

And then this morning, the Lord reminded me that when I am feeling condemnation, that is not from Him but from the enemy. Our Lord convicts so that we might repent and then find, in the words of our pastor, "recovery" and restoration. He is not the author of condemnation and despair--that comes from the father of lies. But the voice of Truth speaks words of hope and strength and faith. So it was these words He brought to mind this morning: "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24

He is able. He is able. He is able. He is able.

To keep you from stumbling

And to present you blameless before the presence of His glory

With great joy (I really love that!)

to the only God (ONLY GOD--who or what can compare to Him!)

our Savior (saved, redeemed, forgiven, restored, made new in Him)

Jesus Christ, our Lord (what a glorious name! There is infinite power in that name)

be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority (above all, through all, in all, nothing compares)

before all time and now and forever (any limits there? Nope! Always and forever, wherever you are, wherever your loved ones are, whatever you are going through--He is there, forever, in power and glory and HE IS ABLE!)

Amen.

Enough said. He said it. He did it. He will continue to do it in our lives throughout eternity. So when we are feeling inadequate and discouraged and defeated, might we look to Him, consider Him, ask Him, and trust Him to keep His Word. Because He always always always does.

And I say, AMEN and to Him be the glory forever and ever.

The Colorful Son

"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power..." Heb. 1:3 Do you want to know God? What He's like, how He thinks, what He can do? Then look at the Son. We don't have to wonder or guess--we can know, for He has unequivocally and eternally revealed Himself in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Really contemplate that--we can see and know the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! He who with a breath created the distant stars and planets, He who has infinite power and glory and wisdom, He who holds all these solar systems and universes in place, wants us to know Him and love Him and be in a love relationship with Him. How often we take this stupendous fact for granted! Forgive me Lord!

"He is the radiance of the glory of God"--I couldn't help but think of brilliantly colored stained glass windows, flinging their deep blues and crimsons and violets across the walls and floors of churches. Steve Green had a song with the lines: "We are like windows, stained with colors of the rainbow. Set in a darkened room till the Bridegroom comes to shine through. Then the colors fall around our feet over those we meet coloring all the grey that we see. Rainbow colors of the Risen Son reflect the One who came to set us all free." Isn't that just what the Lord Jesus does in our lives? He makes that which is grey and lifeless and dull into that which is full of life and joy and meaning. It may not be easy, but with the Savior, it is always an adventure!

How grey and dull I am when I get so full of myself and my circumstances and my agenda. I forfeit perspective and joy and peace, and life becomes a grind. But when I allow the Son/Sun to flow through me, He splashes His colorful life, not just through me, but all over those around me. His splashes of color are reflections of that "radiance of the glory of God" that brings hope to the hopeless, peace to the frightened, and joy to the despairing. Every time we choose to turn to Him, seek Him in His Word, worship Him, rather than give in to our feelings of discouragement or anxiety or selfishness, then we inevitably find Him transforming our grey into His multicolors. But the amazing thing is that He gives us the privilege of spreading His color to the world around us. When we allow ourselves to be His pure vessels, we truly are those stained glass windows that reflect the radiance of the glory of the Savior within us. It's not us--it's all about Him. But we have to allow Him to shine through us.

I heard the other day about a story from 9-11. Late in the day after the attacks, a number of rescue workers had gathered at Trinity Church, a church located very near Ground Zero. Stunned, grieving, struggling, a couple of firefighters decided to hose off the church which was covered with the ubiquitous grey ash from the fallen towers that seemed to cover every surface within blocks of the twin towers. The firefighter said as soon as they hosed off the church, the many colors of the stained glass windows were suddenly revealed--it was the first time any of them had seen color that whole long horrific day. It was as if hope began rising, and the workers began praying and worshipping. "God revealed himself," the firefighter declared.

You know, He was there along. He was in the ash and the fires and the falling towers and the burning planes. He was in the grey rubble and the ash covered workers. But sometimes we can't see Him... sometimes in life, all we can see is the grey, the rubble, the chaos. But when we clean the windows of our lives and allow the Son to shine through, His radiant colorful glory splashes all around us, all over our families and friends and world.

O how I want to be a vessel of His radiance! How I pray that I will continually clean off the ash of my sin and selfishness and pride and seek Him, worship Him, and thereby reflect Him. It makes me want to cry at how often I fail to splash His color on those around me. Forgive me, Lord Jesus. Cleanse me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation that I might reflect anew the glorious, radiant Savior to a lost and dying world. Might You splash your radiant rainbow colors through us and all around us. And to God be the glory.

9-11

Just contemplating this sorrowful yet somehow inspiring anniversary that we remember tomorrow. Sept. 11. Who does not remember that day ten years ago? It is emblazoned in my memory--my husband calling to me that a plane had hit the World Trade Tower. As I prepared to go to Bible study with our youngest child, a baby only a few months old, I turned on the Today show. And with the rest of the nation, I watched in horror as a second plane sliced into the second building, and the realization hit that our country was under attack.

What a different nation we were then. Think of all the precious lives snuffed out in a few short minutes. Those horrific images of fire and explosions and soot and debris and falling bodies. The desperate calls to 911 and the brave, whispered "I love you" and goodbyes by phones and voice mails. So much pain and fear and confusion and destruction and death.

And courage. None of us will ever forget the images of those brave firefighters running into those burning buildings. While others raced out, they raced in. Many had written their names with indelible markers on their arms before they went in... because they knew. They knew the strong likelihood they might not be coming out alive. They saw the horror and understood the enormous risk. And they rushed in anyway. While others groped their way down the stairs, those firefighters, with enormously heavy packs on their backs, ran up the stairs towards the raging fire.

Thank You Lord for such men. Thank You for their example of self-sacrifice and bravery in the face of such brutality and horror and seeming hopelessness. Might their example inspire us. Warren Wiersbe once wrote that we read biographies not so much for imitation as for inspiration. God may not call upon us to imitate their sacrificial deaths. But He calls on us to be inspired to die to ourselves and live for Him. It's time to stop complaining and moping about what we lack and start choosing to be grateful for all we have. It's time to stop wringing our hands, frozen with fear about an uncertain future, and start taking action and working based on what we know and trusting God with the rest. It's time to look to the heroes of 9-11 and be inspired to live each day loving, trusting, thanking, serving, and all to the glory of God.

So, to all who lost their lives that terrible day, you are not forgotten. To those who ran into the burning buildings, you inspire us all and make us want to be better and do better and live better and love better. It's time to stop talking about it and just start doing it--let's roll. And To God be the glory.

Pieces of our heart

No one ever warns you as you cradle that tiny new life in your arms for the first time. But if they did, you couldn't hear them and certainly wouldn't believe them. God miraculously takes the love of a husband and wife and forms out of that love a brand new, entirely unique and beautiful eternal life in the form of a tiny infant--what an unfathomable, joyous miracle! But no one warns you that slowly that precious child will tear off little pieces of your heart, one at a time, as you love and let go, love and let go, and fling those wisps of your heart out into God's world.

We are preparing to take our oldest child to Charlotte in a few days where she will begin the next chapter of her life after college. I am so excited for her, so thankful to the Lord, but I woke in the wee hours of the morning today and tears slipped down my cheeks onto the pillow because she is growing up and going away--tearing away a bigger chunk of my heart. I can still remember taking her to first grade at Aldert Root and coming home and crying that my baby was now in school and gone from me all day long. And a little tiny piece of my heart was torn off and flung out into the heavens. Or when she no longer wanted to hold my hand when we walked to school--another little piece tore away. Or when she excitedly attended her first dance and rushed to a friend's house to get dressed. Or when she shut the door to her room upstairs to talk long hours with friends or flew by herself on an airplane to go to camp or packed up all her stuff as she joyously drove off to college. Piece after piece after piece of our hearts were torn away.

But here's the thing: I envision them as brilliantly colored slips of shining paper flung out into the universe, bringing beauty and color and brightness as they float along. We keep tearing, but God keeps transforming those torn bits into something glorious, perhaps something we will never see in this life, but something beautiful and glorious nonetheless. And while our hearts hurt and grieve over these repeated little losses, and while we keep tearing off those pieces, God keeps repairing and restoring and renewing our hearts. No, our hearts are never the same. There will be pain. There will be scars. But God, who makes all things new, makes our hearts bigger, more pliable, more compassionate, more sensitive to Him and to others.

Isn't this what we do with everyone in our lives that we love? Our spouses, our children, our parents, our siblings, our friends--we have to keep loving and letting go, loving and letting go, and entrusting to our Sovereign Lord--keep tearing off those little pieces of our heart and flinging them out, tiny pieces of colorful love in the world.

And so as we prepare to release Mary Norris out into this exciting new chapter of her life, those little pieces have become a big chunk of our hearts that is tearing away. We want to hold her close and not let her go, but God has been preparing us all along, painfully tearing and tearing those little pieces but then repairing, strengthening, rebuilding, and we trust that He will do the same with this bigger chunk that is being torn away. And like colorful balloons or ephemeral, beautiful butterflies, our hearts release those painful, precious pieces up into the sky. And we trust and we watch and we love and we thank and, painfully but miraculously, our hearts grow.

Is. 57:15 "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" I looked up the word "contrite" and found the definition "to be humbled and repentant before God...crushed or beaten to pieces." Wow, that is what God is doing with each of us, if we will let Him--breaking our hearts into pieces that He might revive and renew and restore them more and more into the image of His own heart.

He is, right now, high and lifted up, inhabiting eternity. He dwells in the high and holy place and in unimaginable light--He is great and glorious beyond our imaginings. Yet He also dwells with "him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit"--He dwells with us whose hearts have been tore into piece after piece and He will revive and resurrect those hearts. It may hurt... a lot. It may take a while. But He has promised and His Word never ever fails. So release those little pieces and watch them float into the sky like colorful balloons and know that God is at work--in the world, in your loved ones, in your heart. And to Him, the glorious heart mender and reviver, be all the glory.

More

I've heard it said that "The good life exists only when you stop wanting a better one." And the good life "is the condition of savoring what is rather than longing for what might be." This is so convicting to me, for, like so many of us, I am never quite satisfied. I could and should be a better wife and a better mother. I come up way short when it comes to organization and clutter control! I long to be a better cook, a more fun mom, a more encouraging wife, a more involved friend, a more active volunteer, a more efficient money manager (i.e. stop spending money!). And, sadly, we can be dissatisfied with those God has placed in our lives: we long for our children to make better grades and wiser decisions or our husbands to make more money or give us more affection or whatever we perceive they are lacking (because it is all about us). We itch for more time, more money, more respect, more stuff, more youth, more meaning and on and on.

And lost in the endless shuffle of always wanting more is joy and gratitude for what is and what we do have. As I once heard Chuck Swindoll comment, "A man never earns enough. A woman is never beautiful enough. Clothes are never new enough. The house is never furnished enough. The food is never fancy enough." He declared that our salvation "lies in stepping off the escalator and saying, 'Enough! What I have will do. What I make of it is up to me.'"

I think back to our brief few days in the mountains a few weeks ago. What perfect happiness and contentment! Just savoring the beauty all around me, the quiet, the cool air, the clear night sky. And relishing the joy of spending time with 3 of my children--watching them, talking, laughing, listening to them. Somehow all the "more" that I thought I needed, all the gaps and deficiencies that rob me of joy and peace, they were all obliterated in those hours of blissful contentment. How often do we miss the extravagant blessings of our family, our health, our friends, our home and nation because of their dailyness. Have I thanked God today that I could talk with my daughters or drive my sons to the golf course? How about walking the dog or listening to music or washing the dishes? I could do none of these things if I had no children or could not speak or hear or if my legs did not work. If I had no dishes or food, then I'd never need to wash a plate.

Forgive me Lord for my ingratitude! I recently began reading the beautiful book, One Thousand Gifts, and these words really struck me: "From all our beginnings, we keep reliving the Garden story. Satan, he wanted more. More power, more glory. Ultimately, in his essence, satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave. Isn't that the catalyst of all my sin? Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other." Amen!

Lord, help me to get off the "more" escalator and step into gratitude for who You are and what You have done. Help me to live in the "precious present," fully alive, fully grateful, fully there. Help me to love with abandon and grace... and, again, gratitude. For, as George Herbert wrote so long ago, "Thou, who has given us so much, mercifully grant us one more thing--a grateful heart." And to God, the Gracious Giver, be all the glory.

Sydney, the Bride

Thank You Lord for the life of Sydney Boone Gaylord. After a courageous battle with a brain tumor, Sydney went home to be with the Lord on August 28, 2011. My husband and I were blessed and privileged to attend her celebration service on Sept. 1st. On the face of it, this was an unthinkable tragedy--the loss of a wonderful 35 year old mother of 3 young children, the youngest of whom is just 2 years old. What an irreplaceable loss for her husband, her children, her parents, her brother, her in-laws and extended family and friends. And this is one we simply cannot fathom. We will surely not understand God's purposes in this until we get to heaven. But Sydney now knows and rejoices. We grieve; she dances. We see dimly and uncertainly; she sees fully and faithfully. We weep; she laughs. But we choose to trust that He who gave His only child out of infinite love for us, loves Sydney far more than any of us and has a good and perfect plan beyond our comprehension. So in our sorrow and darkness, we look to Him who dwells in glorious light... and even now, dances and rejoices with Sydney.

At her funeral, the minister pointed out that the Bible opens with a wedding--the "marriage" of Adam and Eve as Eve is created and made one flesh with Adam. Then in the middle of His Word, God recorded a marriage poem--the Song of Solomon. The very miracle ever performed by our Savior was at a wedding when Jesus turned the water into wine. And at the very end of the Bible, the book of Revelation describes the wedding feast of the Lamb. Paul explains this analogy in his epistles: we, as believers, are the bride and our Lord Jesus is the bridegroom. He is making us pure and ready as His perfect bride--and the wedding, well, it will be glorious! "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure'--for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, 'Write this: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.'" Rev. 19:6-9

Sydney, who loved color and always wore bright colors (and wanted people to wear bright colors to the service--for she wanted it to be a celebration), wanted to be dressed in a white dress for her funeral. She wanted to be dressed all in white as a bride, ready for her beloved Bridegroom. And so while we wept, we also rejoiced that at last she was enjoying and loving and embracing her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. Surrounded by her dear family, as she breathed her last in the hospital room that August day, the minister put his hand on her and shared these words from Revelation. And then she passed from this world into the arms of Jesus, the loving, omniscient, powerful, glorious, gracious, mighty, gentle, joyful Bridegroom.

And so with Rev. 22:20, we rejoice that "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" May we all be like Sydney, a radiant bride, dressed and ready for our Savior. To our glorious Bridegroom be all the glory.